Recently, Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, during which he “harshly criticized some of the still existing in Russia gross violations of legality and human rights.” In particular, the president cited an absurd court decision as an example: “The judge’s ruling states that a person committed a crime by writing a statement to the Lipetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office. Such things make my hair stand on end. What is this? Have they completely lost their minds?”
This is unacceptable. But I’m not talking about the Lipetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office. I’m talking about the president, who defends us from ourselves, emotionally disapproving in the process.
We see in the authorities, starting from the president and ending with the Lipetsk Regional Prosecutor, both the main enemy and the main force threatening our rights. They rule, we obey. They decide, we execute. They allow, we rejoice. They prohibit, we become sad and endure.
These emotions of ours are the basis and guarantee of stability in power.
We forget that these people, from Vladimir Vladimirovich to the prosecutor in Lipetsk, were chosen by us to serve us and at our expense. We like to see them as superiors, although in fact, the superiors are us, the people who chose them and feed them.
Our fear of any presidents and regional prosecutors is equal to the fear of the warehouse guard: it’s our warehouse, the goods in the warehouse are ours, and we pay the salary. And then, after some time, this guard starts dictating the rules for visiting our own warehouse, not letting us in on weekends and taking half of our products. Will this behavior command respect and fear from us? At first, it won’t. But over time, we will begin to consider the guard an important figure and will create a Council to protect our civil rights from this scoundrel in a cap.
If our attitude towards our authorities were sober and adequate, then President Putin should have apologized to this Council for the behavior of the prosecutor, his subordinate. Ideally, request their resignation due to the inability to fully perform their duties and serve us faithfully and truthfully.
Instead, with his “have they completely lost their minds,” Putin emphasized who here holds the power and to whom one should turn for justice. Not to dismiss the guard as incompetent, but to seek justice from them, hoping for mercy. He emphasized whose hands hold the power and who exactly will decide when, where, and how justice will be served.
Are we not ashamed to create these Councils for human rights and ask for justice from those from whom we should demand it?
Translated by ChatGPT gpt-3.5-turbo/42 on 2024-04-20 at 17:28
